<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Past and Present by mcschnuggles</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29943981">Past and Present</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/pseuds/mcschnuggles'>mcschnuggles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Coven Completed [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Vampire, CGRE - Caregiver/Age Regressor, Caregiver!Yusuke, Gen, Regressing!Akira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:55:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29943981</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/pseuds/mcschnuggles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yusuke is still getting used to the potency of the imprint.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kitagawa Yusuke &amp; Kurusu Akira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Coven Completed [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202213</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Past and Present</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi hi sorry if the formatting is a little confusing I wanted to try something new!! I hope the switching tenses help separate past and present, as well as the scene breaks!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yusuke didn’t like to stay out too late.</p><p>Frankly, he didn’t like feeding much at all, but it was a necessity to take where they could. Besides, he and the others have had many arguments over the morality of taking from blood banks—straight from humans that need it—versus light feedings when and where they could from drunken revelers that wouldn’t miss what they’d lost.</p><p>The streets were mostly empty that night. Any stragglers would be easy to pull aside—that is, if any of them were to leave the bars. No, if Yusuke wanted to be sated, he’d have to wait for just a little while longer.</p><p>Despite the bright lights and thrum of distant music, the night was oddly still. That is, until the scent of blood, so strong, so sharp, so overpowering, hit his nose. Before he was aware of what he was doing, he was following the trail.</p><p>As he got nearer, his ears pricked at the sound of panicked voices. There were three of them, three distinct scents he catches before they disappear down a different alleyway. Part of Yusuke wanted to chase them—he knew a guilty party when he saw one—but the scent of blood matched the exact place they’d just fled from.</p><p>What greeted him was a grisly sight.</p><p>A young man sat in the alleyway, curled up around a growing pool of his own blood. His face was pale, his eyes growing dimmer by the second, and Yusuke panicked.</p><p>The worst part was that the predatory, animalistic half of him, the half ravenous with bestial hunger roared to life at the smell. He’d mastered his bloodlust a decade ago, but there was so much <em>blood</em>. He daresay that even someone as old as Ann or Makoto might be tempted.</p><p>Yusuke pressed his sleeve over his mouth and nose, forcing himself to stay calm. He didn’t have all the information, but he had enough to draw one conclusion:</p><p>He wouldn’t let this young man die here.</p><p>“Sir, can you hear me?” Yusuke asked, but the man didn’t respond. Yusuke ran a panicked hand through the stranger’s black curls, if only to calm himself down.</p><p>Yusuke’s throat went tight as he removed his sleeve from his nose, as the smell of blood once again hit him full-force. It sang to him, called him in like a siren, but he would not give into temptation.</p><p>Yusuke held the man as one would an infant, one hand around his waist and the other cradling his head.</p><p>“I’m going to do what I can to help you,” Yusuke said. Maybe the man couldn’t hear him, but Yusuke felt better voicing his thoughts out loud.</p><p>Vampire blood has a healing agent for humans, and in small supplies acts like somewhat of a steroid. Yusuke had even heard of vampires selling concoctions of their blood to athletes to help them win competitions, though he’d never engaged in such a practice himself. Not only did he find it distasteful, but he was too young for his blood to be potent enough to yield results in such small doses.</p><p>But here, he had to pray it was enough.</p><p>He bit into his fingers, drawing enough blood to press to the man’s stomach wound.</p><p>The effect was near immediate. The man’s brow twitched, with just the slightest bit of color coming back to his face. It was progress, but it wasn’t enough. It was only a matter of seconds before his face turned freshly pale, and the blood that seeped around Yusuke’s fingers was by majority not his own.</p><p>
  <em>It was no use… It was no use… There’s too much blood. Far, far too much. I can’t save him. I can’t—</em>
</p><p>If it were anyone else, he might have had a chance, but Yusuke’s powers were too weak. He was too young, too inexperienced. If it were anyone else…</p><p>But instead it was him.</p><p>It was him and he didn’t have a choice if he wanted this stranger to live.</p><p>He tilted the young man’s head to the side, ignoring how limply and lifelessly his body moved, and sank his fangs into the stranger’s neck.</p><p>Yusuke remembered the pain well. Sharp, agonizing. Arguably the worst thing he’d ever felt, eclipsing the fatal gunshot wound that had been taking him not a few moments beforehand. Vampirism was rebirth, a baptism by fire. What did it say about this mystery man that he was too far gone to even scream?</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” Yusuke said. It was all he <em>could</em> say, after damning a man. But wasn’t it better to give him the option at a second life? One he certainly hadn’t had at the hands of his attackers.</p><p>He couldn’t worry about the mess. It would have to be someone else’s concern. He couldn’t be seen here, and neither could his new protégé.</p><p>Yusuke took the man—now neither human nor vampire, stuck in the agonizing limbo between both—into his arms and slipped into the night. No one was close around to notice either the presence or the absence of the two of them, and it may have stayed that way until morning.</p><p>If his coven would allow this transgression, he wasn’t sure. If he was being honest, the thought of fleeing did cross his mind. Leaving his coven to make sure the man in his arms had a second chance was an option, but he knew it was foolish.</p><p>He didn’t have the resources Haru did, nor did he have the safety net she provided. If anything, he was putting the two of them more at risk if he ran away.</p><p>No, they just had to go back to Haru’s home and hope for the best…</p><hr/><p>Yusuke rolls over for the fifth time, finally resigned to the fact that he won’t be able to sleep.</p><p>His head is swimming with memories he’d rather not linger on, worries that always come rearing their heads when he’s apart from Akira for too long.</p><p>Haru never mentioned this part of the imprint, where his thoughts would always be with his little one, where memories would come unbidden. Ann and Futaba have both told him he’s impossible to have a conversation with, because somehow the thread will always lead back to Akira.</p><p>It’s important to indulge the imprint as much as possible, but it’s equally important for the two of them to have time apart. After all, the last thing he wants to do is crowd Akira when he’s not regressed, and Haru has all but demanded the rest of them get quality time with the baby.</p><p>Yusuke sits up, checking the time on his phone. It’s barely been an hour, but he’s too restless to hold still for much longer. Akira is still adjusting to an inverted schedule, and Yusuke is trying to accommodate his sleep schedule so he won’t spend so many waking hours alone, but it’s hard to sleep when there’s no little one to keep him company.</p><p>He needs a walk to clear his head, or else he’ll be lost in the past.</p><p>The house is dead silent at this time of day. Haru is the earliest riser out of all of them, waking up a little past noon so she can participate in afternoon meetings, but no one else gets up before five.</p><p>He barely makes it to the kitchen before he hears the pitter patter of little footsteps. Even without the scent, he’d know those steps right away. Only one member of the coven still moves on clumsy, untrained feet, however hard he tries to copy Haru’s graceful hunter-like movements.</p><p>Akira blinks up at him, wide-eyed and innocent, safe and happy and so far away from the cruel men that tried to hurt him. He’s here. In the present. Take a deep breath.</p><p>Akira has his baby blanket wrapped around his shoulders, a clear sign that he’s regressed. His stuffed cat Morgana is tucked against his chest. Even while big, he hardly goes anywhere without it. Yusuke thinks it might be the vulnerability of being in an unfamiliar place still.</p><p>Haru has once again proven herself as a miracle worker and an entrepreneur with her blanket design.</p><p>She sewed the quilt herself, but the real ingenuity of it was that each patch had Velcro strips tucked under the folds. There are six squares cut out so everyone’s shirts and scarves may fit nicely into the blanket. That way everyone’s personal items can be removed and rescented, all while keeping the blanket part thoroughly washed.</p><p>“Hello, little one.” Yusuke holds out his arms, which Akira happily steps into. “I thought you were spending the day with Haru.”</p><p>“Mama Haru fell asleep,” Akira answers. She’s been insistent on claiming the moniker for herself, especially after Ryuji jokingly called her “Gramma Haru” a couple days ago.</p><p>“I see.” It would probably be wise to shoot her a text and let her know that Akira is safe. Yusuke adjusts the blanket around Akira’s shoulders. “Well, then, we’ll just have to entertain ourselves, won’t we?”</p><p>Akira nods into Yusuke’s shoulder. Yusuke has learned that his little one is far from chatty when regressed, so Futaba has been making a concentrated effort to teach Yusuke the nuances of body language.</p><p>Frankly, he didn’t expect Akira to stay down for long. When he was regressed, <em>especially</em> when he was regressed, he almost always found his way back to Yusuke within the hour.</p><p>“Would you like to be carried?” Yusuke asks, even though the answer is always yes.</p><p>Akira hums, wrapping his arms around Yusuke’s neck. Yusuke has never been more grateful for his vampire strength, seeing how happy it makes Akira to be carried and held.</p><p>Yusuke lifts Akira onto his hip, smiling at how Akira wiggles his shoulders to get comfy. It’s his way of indicating he’s happy, a form of stimming, if Yusuke remembers right.</p><p>“Let’s go check on Mama Haru first, shall we?”</p><p>~</p><p>He’d never seen Haru more furious.</p><p>He couldn’t blame her. He’d broken their most important rule, acted impulsively, put everyone at risk of exposure, and saved a life that may not even want to be saved.</p><p>It was Ryuji that had let him in, the first one who’d seen the clear evidence of what Yusuke had done, but even then, he didn’t judge. He just scouted out the hallways, making sure they were empty, and ushered Yusuke back to his room.</p><p>Haru, however, was an entirely different story. Yusuke could only sit back and watch as she cycled through shock, horror, worry, and fury, all within the span of a few seconds, before settling on a cold calmness.</p><p>“How long ago was the bite?” Haru asked.</p><p>“I-I don’t know. I brought him straight here from Shinjuku.”</p><p>“So probably just enough time to heal,” Haru said. She looked to their newest coven member, just in time for him to <em>scream</em>.</p><p>His eyes weren’t any more aware—in fact, he seemed further away from the others than he’d been before.</p><p>The venom healed before it hurt, making sure its candidate was physically capable of going through the change.</p><p>Yusuke had experienced the transformation himself, and while he’d never been an outside observer, being the youngest of the coven, nothing could compare to the heartache he felt hearing the man scream like that.</p><p>Before he was aware of what he was doing, he was wrapping his arms around the stranger in an attempt to soothe him.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure who he was saying that to, but he meant it with all his heart. He was so sorry that any of this could happen.</p><p>“It’s no use now,” Haru said. She lay her hand on his shoulder, observing him with warm sympathy. With a start, he realized she was the only one who could understand his pain. She turned all the others, himself included. Now it was his turn to sit and watch someone suffer through the change he caused. “Taking out our anger on one another won’t make the change any easier. He’s here now, and he’s one of us. Does he have a wallet? Something to identify him?”</p><p>“I’m not sure.” Yusuke refused to let go of the man in his arms. His face burned with a fever, and while he’d tired himself out after the initial scream, it was clear just how much pain he was still in.</p><p>“Let me check.” Haru’s movements were slow, deliberate, as if she was trying to prove she meant no harm. She checked the man’s pockets one by one, until she found the wallet she was looking for. “His name is Akira Kurusu.”</p><p><em>Akira Kurusu</em>.</p><hr/><p>Haru’s asleep at her desk, slouched over the keyboard.</p><p>Underneath her desk is a cozy setup of blankets and pillows, one that Akira and Haru must have put together before she started with conference calls. She prefers to video call when she can, but she’s rarely afforded the luxury.</p><p>Yusuke tuts. She really must refrain from working through night and day without resting. He unfolds the quilt settled on her extra chair and drapes it over her shoulders. It’s a little hard with a little one in one arm, but Akira is more than happy to lend a hand. He even goes so far as to turn of Haru’s monitor for her.</p><p>She must be exhausted for her to not so much as stir at the noise and activities around her. Either that, or she feels safe enough here that she can lower her guard enough to not spring awake at the slightest intrusion.</p><p>“We’ll find something fun to do,” Yusuke promises, once the door clicks shut behind them. Sweet as Akira is, he probably wasn’t having too much fun just hanging around under Haru’s desk while she worked.</p><p>Or at least that’s what Yusuke <em>thought</em>. But Akira tilts his head, confused, like dozing underneath Haru’s desk is the pinnacle of fun.</p><p>“Surely you must be getting restless by now.”</p><p>There’s still a search for Akira. After the crime scene had been discovered and DNA samples found, authorities became determined to find the victim. While things weren’t particularly optimistic, the news reports did hold out some hope to bring him in alive.</p><p>Needless to say, Akira couldn’t leave the building, and it would most likely stay that way for at least a month. Haru is a cautious matriarch, and she’d rather be extra sure that no one is looking for their little one when he’s allowed to leave for the first time.</p><p>The others have been making an effort to keep him comfortable. Bringing him books and toys and games and anything else he asks for. And while Yusuke would gladly make these trips himself, the imprint is still too new for him to be more than a few rooms away from Akira at any given time.</p><p>Akira shrugs, which is basically his code for “yes.” He’s asked for the chance to just walk around Shibuya multiple times, all of which have broken Yusuke’s heart to deny.</p><p>Haru’s home is lovely, but even the nicest of houses can be prisons if you’re cooped up in them for long enough. And because of Akira’s sensitivity to the sun—something that will only get better with time—he can’t even so much as look at the window during the daytime, which is still the only times he’s awake.</p><p>Still, anything is better than that pathetic apartment Akira had before.</p><hr/><p>Yusuke had never seen an apartment in a sorrier state.</p><p>Little furniture, less food. It didn’t feel like someone lived here so much as they survived here. Yusuke felt a surge of relief that Akira won’t be living here anymore. Of course, he may not want to stay with the coven, but anything was better than this awful place.</p><p>Futaba and Makoto were pawing through his dresser, finding the clothes that smelled the strongest of him and throwing them into suitcases, when Futaba let out a soft gasp.</p><p>“Uh, guys?” she said, an edge of worry creeping into her voice.</p><p>Yusuke was by her side in seconds, his mind already racing with a thousand awful possibilities. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>A pacifier dangles from her fingers, sized for an adult’s mouth. “I think Inari here might have turned an age regressor.”</p><p>“And that is…?” Makoto asked.</p><p>“Someone who essentially turns back the clock, who feels like a kid to help escape their stress. A couple of my clients were regressors,” Futaba explained. Her work as a psychiatrist was spotty so as not to arouse unwanted attention, but she still did work from time to time. Not as much as she wanted, but enough to keep her from getting restless.</p><p>Akira had a lot of stress to deal with, if the piles of unpaid bills on the counter were any indication.</p><p>“So what does this mean?” Yusuke asked.</p><p>“Nothing much. Just sometimes he’ll feel like a little kid and need a little extra looking after is all. He’s probably feeling pretty young with how much pain he’s in,” Futaba continued.</p><p>Yusuke bristled at the words. Not only did he have a little one—in the way that they were all Haru’s little ones—but he also had a <em>little one</em>, someone who would need to be taken care of and fussed over and loved. One that he’d left for however short a period.</p><p>“Is there anything else we should be getting?” Yusuke asked.</p><p>“Any and all regression gear.” Futaba indicated the pacifier in her other hand. “Stuff like this.”</p><p>Yusuke combed through the apartment once, twice, testing his family’s patience to its near limit. After all, while it didn’t look like anyone else lived here, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t come poking around sooner or later.</p><p>In the end he found two pacifiers, one baby bottle, a few drawings, and a cat plush. Not much for a little one, Yusuke couldn’t help thinking.</p><p>When they returned to Haru’s house, Yusuke immediately sought out Akira. Haru had cleared out a guest room for him, that would be his own if he wanted to stay, where he lay curled up in bed, half-delirious from fever.</p><p>The initial pain had faded enough for him to sleep, but that didn’t mean they were out of the woods yet. His wounds were healed, and the transformation was well underway, which was arguably the most painful part of all.</p><p>Yusuke sat by Akira’s bedside, cradling the little one just as he had in the alleyway. This time, Akira was cognizant enough of the warmth and safety being offered that he instinctively curled into the embrace.</p><p>Haru placed her hands on Yusuke’s shoulders. “I need to get back to work. Call if you need anything.” And with that, she was gone.</p><p>While the others tried to give him space, none of them could hide their interest at the idea of a little one in their coven. But since none of them knew much of anything about Akira, the most they could find out were general tips from Futaba, who noted that he probably had an oral fixation and probably wouldn’t be used to an influx of attention.  </p><p>As the pain worsened, he didn’t want to be touched, so Yusuke kept his distance. He sang when Akira didn’t want to be touched and cuddled him when he did.</p><p>He was so very attached. It took him less than a day to know that he’d move mountains and fight back armies if that’s what Akira asked of him. All he could do was pray that Akira didn’t have a desire for world domination.</p><p>Akira had two modes while in pain, Yusuke quickly discovered. Yusuke had dubbed them as such, the “everything is awful and if you touch me again I will scream” mode and the “everything is awful please come hold me” mode. They were currently in the former, so Yusuke took the time to look through the tiny folder of crayon drawings they had taken from Akira’s apartment.</p><p>Akira was the artistic type, it seemed. Yusuke was thrilled at the prospect of another creative in the family, though the only artworks of his they could find were done clearly in littlespace.</p><p>Yusuke’s mind was already swimming with possible activities. He could teach Akira to fingerpaint. Ann was always sending him videos of different crafts, like string painting or acrylic pours, as well as recommending him speedpaint videos on YouTube. And while Yusuke didn’t have a taste for them, maybe Akira would.</p><p>Akira whined, an arm stretched out in Yusuke’s direction. Not even ten minutes and Akira had swung back to desperately needing affection.</p><p>“Poor baby,” Yusuke crooned. At the risk of moving Akira around too much, he lifted the little one into his arms, cradling him like a small child.</p><p>The next few days would be awful, for both of them.</p><p>But Yusuke was sure they’d make it through.</p><hr/><p>“Yu-Yu?” A hand taps his cheek, goading him out of his memories.</p><p>Akira has wrapped his blanket around the two of them in an attempt at comfort, and it works surprisingly well. To have all seven scents of his family is grounding, so much so that he’s able to shake off the rapid beat of his heart and offer a smile.</p><p>“I’m sorry, where were we?” He glances around, trying to remember what they were doing before he lost himself like that. The sippy cup in his hands is at least somewhat of a hint. “You were thirsty, yes?”</p><p>“Yu?” Before Yusuke can stand and flee into the kitchen, Akira grabs him by the sleeve. The concern painted across his face is enough for Yusuke to feel immediately guilty.</p><p>“I was… lost in the past, little one. I apologize.” And maybe he’s in need of some comfort himself. He holds out his arms for a hug that Akira gladly returns.</p><p>“You wanna talk about it?” Akira asks. While he nuzzles in against Yusuke’s chest, his voice has a clear note of bigness to it, one that Yusuke still doesn’t know how to navigate.</p><p>“I won’t trouble you with my separation anxieties,” Yusuke says, but even saying that much is giving too much away.</p><p>“Is it the imprint?” Akira asks, suddenly alert. He gets that way when there’s a problem in front of him he can fix, suddenly big and helpful and capable of moving the same mountains for Yusuke that Yusuke wants to move for him. “I could stick around more if you needed me to.”</p><p>“Only if that’s what you want.” Yusuke has noticed that Akira defines himself mainly by how he can help others, often putting his needs below others. He’s no psychiatrist, and he can’t effortlessly shut down those bad habits like Futaba does, but he still reinforce self-care where he can. “What’s worrying me is very silly.”</p><p>“I don’t like you thinking about that,” Akira mutters. It’s amazing how he can pick up on things like that without Yusuke saying a word. “I’m here now.”</p><p>“And for that I couldn’t be more grateful.” Yusuke tightens his hold on Akira, like if he hugs hard enough he can undo all the terrible things that have happened to his little one. “I apologize. I swear I’ll get better with time.”</p><p>“Me too,” Akira admits. “I kinda freak out whenever I wake up and you’re not there.”</p><p>Yusuke starts. “You never mentioned this before.”</p><p>Akira’s face burns. “Because I’m not <em>little</em> when it happens.”</p><p>“Nonsense. You’re my little one no matter what headspace you’re in. If you need me, then I’m there. And that will not change with time. Understood?”</p><p>Akira averts his eyes, doing his little shoulder wiggle. It tells Yusuke more than a verbal response ever could.</p><p>“Good.” Yusuke kisses Akira’s forehead. “Now, would you like to be big or little?”</p><p>Akira picks at his collar, using it to somewhat hide his face. For years, Akira’s regression was his shameful secret. He wasn’t used to talking about it so openly, or being so accepted, nor was he used to being in his headspace for longer stretches of time.</p><p>“Little,” Akira murmurs, snuggling into Yusuke’s shoulder.</p><p>“Either is perfect.”</p><p>The imprint would fade in time. Maybe in a year, maybe two, but Akira wouldn’t always be so dependent on him. Part of Yusuke dreaded that inevitability. Another part of him knew to hold onto these moments while he could. And another part still looked forward to seeing how Akira would grow, both as a vampire and as a person.</p><p>Without the financial burdens of his past life weighing him down, just what could he accomplish? Would he pursue art? Writing? Would he try giving back to humanity?</p><p>Akira yawns, his eyes already slipping shut. Apparently the nap under Haru’s desk hadn’t been enough. Yusuke can only hope it’s enough to help him stay up through the night, but it’s unlikely. The transformation is painful and exhausting, and Akira has been sleeping anywhere between ten and fifteen hours recently.</p><p>Yusuke gives a wry grin, resting his cheek against Akira’s forehead. Perhaps those are too big questions to ask at the moment.</p><p>For now, they could just nap.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>mcschnuggles.tumblr.com</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>